1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to laboratory apparatus, and more particularly, to a disposable spinner flask.
2. Description of the Related Art
Spinner flasks are generally used for growing suspensions of mammalian cells and other organisms. As illustrated in FIG. 1, typically, conventional spinner flasks 10 have a lid 12 that threadedly closes a glass container 14, and three separate necks 16. Since the container 14 of most conventional spinner flasks is made from glass, it can be costly to purchase and/or replace the flask, for example, due to breakage. In addition, in order to reuse these flasks, they have to be thoroughly cleaned and then sterilized using one of several available methods. Cleaning these flasks is typically time, labor, and cost intensive. Reusing these flasks can pose a potential risk of cross contamination if cleaning and sterilization is not completely successful.
Attempts at providing a disposable spinner flask that is practical have generally been unsuccessful. For example, conventional spinner flasks marketed as being disposable typically continue to be expensive. Accordingly, disposing of such a flask after each use is not practical and does not solve the cost issues related to the non-disposable spinner flasks.
Additionally, conventional spinner flasks such as the flask 10 shown in FIG. 1, are typically symmetrical about their longitudinal axes, which makes it essentially impossible for a robot in an automated system to recognize radial orientation of the flask 10. Therefore, existing devices are not optimized for use in robotic automated cell culture systems. Additionally, the opposing necks 16 of these flasks 10, which provide limited access to the interior of the flask 10, are canted at an angle that makes it difficult to access the contents of the flask, and requires that the stirring mechanism stop prior to removal of sample from the flask. Once the stirring mechanism stops, the cells immediately begin to settle causing sampling errors when trying to obtain accurate cell counts.